Gaining Ground Fall 2014

Gaining Ground
Together with Your Local Union
GROWTH • STABILITY • ENGAGEMENT • ACTION
BUSINESS MANAGER BRIAN COCHRANE REPORTS
OUR KEY ISSUES
General Meeting hears
updates on pipeline projects,
coal mines, Temporary
Foreign Workers and more
“IF THAT PIPELINE
GOES AHEAD
IT WILL MEAN
A LOT OF JOBS
FOR OPERATING
ENGINEERS.”
IUOE LOCAL 115
BUSINESS MANAGER
BRIAN COCHRANE
Pipelines, coal mines and the ongoing problems
with Temporary Foreign Workers were key topics
at the IUOE Local 115 General Membership Meeting
held September 20, in addition to the office reopening
events.
Business Manager Brian Cochrane told several
hundred members and guests in attendance that
while the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway
pipelines is the centre of opposition from environmental
groups, it could provide years of employment
for members.
“If that pipeline goes ahead it will mean a lot of
jobs for Operating Engineers,” Cochrane said.
And Cochrane added that seeing Burnaby City
Council – a traditional ally – oppose the proposed
Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion is “very frustrating”.
IUOE Canadian Regional Director Lionel Railton
strongly agreed, saying that it is important to convey
the message that the construction sector represents
14% of Canada’s Gross Domestic Product and
that pipelines are critical to the economy.
Cochrane also noted that IUOE Local 115 is working
with other unions to defend BC’s coal sector
from opposition by environmental groups and city
councils in the Metro Vancouver area, pointing out
the importance of the industry to the economy.
The coal industry employs 26,000 people directly
and indirectly, creates $3.2 billion in economic activity
and generates $715 million in tax revenues for
the province and BC cities and towns every year.
The General Membership Meeting also heard updates
on continuing problems with the federal Temporary
Foreign Worker Program, despite the significant
changes forced on the government after IUOE
Local 115 went to court to fight HD Mining in Tumbler
Ridge bringing in 200 coal miners from China.
The recent announcement that Peace River Coal
will go through a phased shutdown has devastated
Tumbler Ridge, Cochrane said, which also has seen
the recent closure of Walter Energy’s two mines in
the area.
Cochrane pledged that IUOE Local 115 will do
everything it can to find other jobs for members at
Peace River Coal but noted the irony caused by the
Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
“The only jobs left in coal in Tumbler Ridge will be
those of the Temporary Foreign Workers from China,”
Cochrane said, adding that the union has publicly
called on HD Mining to hire some of the IUOE
Local 115 members losing their jobs.
The General Meeting also heard district reports
from all Business Representatives, saw training
certificates presented to several members and applauded
those joining the 60-year IUOE membership
club, as well as those reaching 50-year, 40-year
and 30-year milestones – congratulations!
Business Manager Brian Cochrane addresses members and guests at the General
Membership Meeting on September 20th held at the OE Auditorium in Burnaby.
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS • GAINING GROUND • NOVEMBER 2014

ALL SET FOR THE
NEXT 40 YEARS
A big crowd joins IUOE General President Callahan
to celebrate the September re-opening of Local
115 headquarters after a major renovation
Abig crowd joined IUOE General President
James T. Callahan to celebrate the
re-opening of the Local 115 headquarters
after a major renovation turned the 43-year-old
building inside out.
The gathering on September 20 marked a milestone
for the Local, which made a challenging decision
to construct a new building and move from Vancouver
to Burnaby in 1971.
Business Manager Brian Cochrane welcomed
General President Callahan, hundreds of members,
“WE’VE COMBINED
AN AMAZING
HISTORY WITH THE
FOUNDATION FOR A
GREAT FUTURE!”
IUOE LOCAL 115
BUSINESS MANAGER
BRIAN COCHRANE
IUOE Local 115 Table Officers with
General President lowering a time capsule at the
September 20 General Membership Meeting. From
Left to Right: Recording Secretary Brian Lefebvre;
President Wayne Mills; Business Manager Brian
Cochrane; General President James T. Callahan; Vice
President Brad Randall; Treasurer Frank Carr;
and Financial Secretary Don Swerdan.

The updated IUOE Local 115
headquarters underlines our
union’s confidence as we
move forward
guests and especially some of the Local’s former
officers who made the decision to construct a new
office on the site of a plant nursery in 1971, a then
sparsely-populated Burnaby.
“We were moving from Vancouver to the sticks,
as Burnaby was seen then. 43 years later we got
some prime real estate as a result,” Cochrane told the
crowd.
“We took a building with a 43-year history and updated
it for the next 40 years,” Cochrane said.
Cochrane said with the renovations complete,
the union is ready to make more history as British
Columbia gears up for several major construction
projects that will depend on the skills of the Local’s
membership.
“Now we’re ready for another big step forward
in our Local’s long record of success – with a new,
modern and very functional office we can serve the
members better than ever as we plan for growth,” he
explained.
Callahan spoke highly of the accomplishments of
the Local and the foresight members had to create
the then-new headquarters in 1971.
“This building underscores the success of Local
115; it gives everyone a sense of home and history,”
Callahan said. “It’s great to see the tribute to the older
members who put their skin on the line for the local.”
“This is where a member comes at the best of
times and the worst of times, Callahan added, pointing
out that members access health and welfare and
other services through the union office.
Cochrane and Callahan paid tribute to past Business
Managers Mike Parr and the late Fred Randall,
who were among those responsible for the decision
in 1971 to purchase a large plot of land for just
$35,000 to build the office, on land now worth millions.
Brad Randall, IUOE Local 115 Vice-President, said of
his father: “Fred Randall brought the land purchase
to the members for approval at a general meeting -
and there was lots of debate!”
And former Business Manager Gary Kroeker
agreed, saying things were more challenging in the
1970s.
“THIS BUILDING
UNDERSCORES
THE SUCCESS OF
LOCAL 115. IT GIVES
EVERYONE A SENSE
OF HOME AND
HISTORY.”
IUOE GENERAL
PRESIDENT JAMES T.
CALLAHAN
“People have a lot of confidence in the way things
are done now,” Kroeker said by comparison.
Former Local 115 President Tony Tennessy, a 50-
year member, pointed out the enormous value in
buying the land for the office in 1971: “The Burnaby
Lake Greenhouses ran up to Canada Way and we
bought the nursery for $35,000. We sold the corner
lot for $180,000 a few years later!”
Tennessy said of the building, which replaced the
IUOE office at 58th and Fraser in Vancouver: “There’s
a lot of history here. And this building was used by a
lot of labour organizations for their meetings.”
Kroeker agreed, saying: “This has been the hub of
the wheel of the Operating Engineers. This was the
magnet.”
After the General Membership Meeting, Callahan,
Cochrane and other officers participated in lowering
a time capsule into the ground in front of the newlyrenovated
building with a miniature crane.
A SPECIAL SWEARING IN FOR NEW IUOE MEMBERS
IUOE Local 115 new members take their oath and are sworn in by General
President James T. Callahan on September 20th at the General Membership
Meeting.

A few scenes
from our GMM
Hundreds of IUOE members attended the
September General Membership Meeting
which featured the union’s General President,
James T. Callahan and the reopening
of our newly renovated building.
.
UNION ATTACK BILL BACK
Federal Conservatives reintroduce discriminatory bill
in Senate. C-377 would require unions to report all
transactions worth more than $5000
Like a vampire rising from the grave, the federal
Conservative government’s anti-union
Bill C-377 has returned to the Senate, creating
a second challenge for Canada’s labour
movement.
“Bill C-377 is intended to unfairly penalize
workers and their unions by imposing
extensive financial reporting rules no other
professional organizations face - not lawyers,
architects or doctors - just unions,” says IUOE
Local 115 Business Manager Brian Cochrane.
“We have to stop Bill C-377 once and for
all by working with the Building Trades, the
Canadian Labour Congress, provinces and
employers to give the Conservatives a clear
message - no way,” said Cochrane. “This is a
thinly-disguised attempt to punish unions
and their members rather than working with
us to improve the economy.”
IUOE General President James T. Callahan,
speaking at Local 115’s General Membership
Meeting in September, pledged the International’s
support.
“My commitment is to help our Canadian
brothers, to fight right to work and
Bill C-377,” Callahan said to loud applause.
“When it comes to Operating Engineers,
there’s no border. If there’s a fight for Operating
Engineers in Banff, there’s a fight for
Operating Engineers in Florida.”
Bill C-377 has been heavily promoted by
the anti-union contractors association Merit
Canada, the Independent Contractors and
Businesses Association [ICBA] in BC, Labour-
Watch and other organizations intent on
hurting labour for their own profit.
Former Conservative Senator Hugh Segal
led the charge against Bill C-377 in 2013,
succeeding in persuading other Conservative
Senators to amend the legislation so severely
that it’s Tory sponsor said it had been
“gutted”.
Senator Segal said last year: “This bill before
us.... is really — through drafting sins of
omission and commission — an expression
of statutory contempt for the working men
and women in our trade unions and for the
trade unions themselves and their right under
federal and provincial law to organize. It
is divisive and unproductive.”
But after Segal retired, the Conservatives
brought back C-377 for another try.
Bill C-377 would require unions to report
on a Canada Revenue Agency website any
financial transaction over $5,000 and file
onerously detailed financial statements.
The Canadian and Quebec bar associations
have questioned its constitutionality and the
Globe and Mail newspaper denounced the
bill as a “witch hunt.”
IUOE Local 115 will continue opposing Bill
C-377 – check our website for updates – at
www.iuoe115.com
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF
OPERATING ENGINEERS
4333 Ledger Ave.
Burnaby BC V5G 3T3
If you have any questions, comments or input, please contact us.
Call 604.291.8831 or 1.888.486.3115. Email us media@iuoe115.com.
Visit our website at www.iuoe115.com
Publications Mail Agreement No. 40011378
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS • GAINING GROUND • NOVEMBER 2014